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The Jewish Cemetery, Warsaw


This is one of the largest Jewish cemeteries in Europe.  Established in 1806, it contains over 200,000 marked graves and mass graves of victims of the Warsaw Ghetto.

During the first decades of the cemetery's existence, mostly the very wealthy were interred here.  The poorer Jews were buried at the Praga cemetery on the other side of the Wisla (Vistula) River.  The Jewish cemetery had to be expanded a few times over many years and after the 1840-48 expansion it became the main Jewish cemetery of Warsaw, no matter the status.  In 1913, due to conflicts within the Jewish community, a decision was made to split the cemetery into four parts: Orthodox, Reformed, Children and Military/State.  A high wall surrounding the cemetery was built in 1930's.

The cemetery was partly demolished during WWII.  The Germans also used it as a site for mass executions and buried victims of the Warsaw Ghetto, the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising.  At that time both Jews and non Jews were interred there.  Following the Ghetto Uprising in 1943 the Germans blew up the buildings around the cemetery including the burial house and the Synagogue. 






 It was a grey day in Warsaw and it had just stopped raining.  My friend and I walked through the cemetery in awe of its quiet beauty.  It was peaceful, a gentle wind made the leaves on the trees rustle slowly.  I don't feel comfortable walking through cemeteries, and this one, so close to where the ghetto used to be, had the added feeling of tragedy.  The overgrown shrubs and trees sprouting from in between some of the graves, created the sense of history and heartbreak.  This is a solemn place but it also speaks of the wonderful, vibrant and strong Jewish life that has been here for so long.
I found it very touching that in one area of the cemetery we saw graves that were over 200 years old and then we came across a grave that was just a week old.  Jewish life in Warsaw continues to thrive. 
 




 Mass grave for the Warsaw Ghetto victims.



















Warsaw Uprising fighters.


 For privacy, I blocked out the name.  This lady, a Holocaust Survivor, passed away in New Jersey but was brought back to Poland.





















 Janusz Korczak Monument.

Janusz Korczak was a doctor, author, school principal, docent at a Polish University but most importantly, a man who loved children.  He established a Jewish orphanage in 1912.  Korczak received many offers to be smuggled out once the orphanage was moved inside the Ghetto, but he refused each time.  On August 5, 1942, Korczak, the orphanage staff and 200 children were rounded up for deportation to Treblinka.  They all perished. 




The Jewish Cemetery
ul. Okopowa 49/51
Monday-Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 1pm
Sunday 11am - 4pm




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